SCHLOSSER'S FARM, POWASSAN

Yesterday I made a little photo trip. It actually rained all day so it was hard to keep my camera dry but the light was so beautiful. The landscapes reminded me of Pieter Breughel's winter paintings. Anyway here is my image of the Schlosser's barn. Happy New year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

I wish all my followers and their families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I am looking forward to your postings and comments in the coming years So I will raise a toast to all of you and thanks.
Mike

EMPTY

I have not posted very many images lately. Well, it is of course a busy time just before Christmas so here is a picture to remind you that its time to finish your last Christmas shopping.

WINDOW, TORONTO

We are just digging ourselves out of a lot of snow. Yesterday and early today we had a major snowstorm coming through our area. So I did not have time to go and spend time taking pictures. This picture is an image I made in Toronto a few weeks ago. Its the little head that makes this image.

TEXTURE

Other things to do  today so I did not spend much time taking pictures. On my walk I took this picture of a rock outcrop. I simply enhanced the texture by turning it into a HDR image. A rather popular process at the moment but It did work well on this picture.

WINTER DUCHESNAY CREEK

A few weeks ago I posted a picture of Duchesnay Creek. This time I took this image from the same spot but prefered to take it in black and white. I liked the textures and patterns of the brush in the lower part of the image contrasting with the snow covered pine trees at the top.

BLACK FORREST WINTER TRAIL

Yes John you are correct. Dan and I made a little photo excursion to the Black Forrest. It was magical walking along the winter trail. This would be an excellent park for x country skiing or snow shoeing. Pity that the city does not plow the parking lot. So it will be difficult getting into the park when we get more snow. I hope Elli that you like this image as much as the yesterdays picture. Thanks for the comment.

BLOWING SNOW

Another picture of our little photo trip. Occasionally a gust of wind would blow the soft snow around. You had to be quick because it would last only a few seconds. The blowing snow would create a fog like effect.

SNOW FLAKES

Yesterday we had our real first snow of the Winter. We received about 30cm of the white stuff and this will stay for the rest of the season. My friend Dan and I went taking pictures of course. It was great to be out and wander through the snow. We got some very fine images.The camera was set at auto focus so of course I ended up with sharp snow flakes and a very impressionistic background.

GARBAGE CONTAINER, TORONTO

You are right David, this type of subject matter offers a lot of visual information. Here I think it is the different pictures stuck onto this container. The  torn images and the red splatters of paint add to a feeling of violence.

TORONTO ALLEY

This image is simply my personal interpretation of random objects and almost inarticulate graffiti, found on a corner of some alley in downtown. Toronto.

STAIR CASE, ONTARIO COLLEGE OF ART, TORONTO

I just returned from my trip to Southern Ontario. One afternoon my wife and I wandered around downtown Toronto. The light was not very good but I managed to make a few images. I liked the contrast of the stairwell and the black trees. I actually increased the contrast of the trees by making the image black and white and then turning the building to its original colour state.

WINTER TRAIL

Last Friday afternoon I walked the trails in the Black Forrest Park here in North Bay. It was snowing lightly, the light was very soft which I liked. I made this picture without a tripod and because of the very low light I had to shoot at 800 ISO. This gave me quite a bit of noise but instead of trying to suppress the noise I added more grain to the image. I liked the final result which has an almost painterly effect. I won't be around for a few days, actually I will be gone for most of the week, so on my return I'll resume my postings.

WINTERSTORM

Last night we visited our friends Bob and Pat, who had invited us for dinner. Of course, the weather, as quite often happens in the Winter season, turned quite ugly that afternoon and we had our first big Winterstorm . Cars and buses were stuck on the road, the light you see at the beginning of the driveway was a truck trying to get on the road. However we made it and had a wonderful evening. ,  So I posted this picture to thank Pat and Bob for a great dinner and, best of all, great company, which included Bob's neighbours and friends Rob and Marsh, who unexpectedly also dropped by.

TRAIL ANGEL

At the end of a trail along lake Nipissing I photographed this small garden angle. Actually the angle was just inside a garden next to the trail.

UNION TAXI

Rain, rain and more rain that is the weather today so again, a good time to look at some old images. I like this picture because of the complex perspective created by the different geometrical shapes.

DE LUXE TAXI, NORTH BAY

Actually this picture is quite old but I am making a print portfolio of night pictures I took in 1983, quite a long time ago. I forgot about all these negatives I had and now with the Winter season ready to start, it looked like a good project to work on when it is dark and gray and you simply don't feel like going out taking pictures.

SILVERCITY CINEMA, OTTAWA

I liked the gaudy quality of this cinema complex in Ottawa. it was a very dark gray day when I made this image, very similar to our weather we are experiencing this last few days.

HILSIDE LAKE, NORTH BAY

Within the North Bay city limits you will find quite a few small lakes. I discovered this site over the weekend and made quite a few images at this spot. Dave will enjoy this view and probably look back with nostalgia at his time here in North Bay.In the next few days I will post some more pictures of this small lake. Also this weekend four more people became followers of my blog. So thank you and welcome Marcela Gramatic , Fabricio Vieira , David McGrievey and Leovi

DUCHESNAY CREEK

When I saw this landscape, it reminded me of a large painting, I can't remember the name of the artist, which I really liked. The random lines of the shrubs and the texture of the yellow grasses  made very a very abstract   composition.